Ditching attachment for dozer blades



Dec. 13, 1955 E. A. ROGERS DITCHING ATTACHMENT FOR DOZER BLADES Filed Jan. 14, 1952 INVENTOR. EdgorARogers ATTORNEY United States Patent O DIRIIWG ATTACHMENT FOR DOZER BLADES Edgar A. Rogers, Mesa County, Colo.

Application January 14, 1952, Serial No. 266,286

3 Claims. (Cl. 3798) The present invention relates to a ditching attachment for dozer blades that is adapted for quick attachment to and detachment from the moldboard or dozer blade of conventional types of earth moving equipment when it is desired to dig ditches, trenches or furrows for the purpose of irrigation or other similar activities. In general the main idea involved herein is the provision of an attachment that may be positioned on a dozer blade to scrape out a trench of size and shape corresponding to the working face of such attachment. Preferably the ditching attachment described herein should be attached to a dozer blade so that it extends downwardly past the bottom or cutting edge of such dozer blade or moldboard. With this arrangement the earth that is removed by the cutting face of the attachment is itself moved to an outof-way position by the dozer blade.

In order to efiiciently realize the advantages of such an attachment, it has been determined that the attachment should be of a type that could readily be afiixed to various types of dozer blades and that could be easily secured or removed therefrom. Accordingly it has been an object of this invention to make a ditching attachment for dozer blades that is readily adjustable for use on various types of blades while in addition providing means for quickly attaching or detaching the ditching attachment from the various sizes and types of dozer blades.

To satisfy these objectives and further objectives and advantages that will become apparent in the following description and drawings, the applicant provides an attachment for dozer blades of the form and type substantially as shown in the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. l. is an elevational view showing the general features of the present invention inclusive of its manner of attachment to a conventional type earth moving dozer;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing additional features of the applicants type of dozer attachment;

Fig. 3 is a side elevational view further showing the manner of attachment for securing the device of the present invention to a dozer blade;

Fig. 4 is a front elevation showing further features of the device disclosed in Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a partial elevation in broken cross section showing additional features of the present invention; and

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a modified form of the present invention.

Briefly stated, the present invention provides an attachment for dozer blades incorporating a clamping mechanism for securing the attachment to such dozer blades. The attachment itself provides a cutting blade of trapezoidal or other shape adapted to cut and remove earth from a section of ground so as to leave a ditch, trench or furrow as necessary to satisfy various purposes such as irrigation. The support for the ditching attachment provides telescoping adjustment means in order to adapt the attachment to various sizes of dozer blades.

Referring now to the drawings, the detailed features of the present invention will become more apparent after reference to Figs. 2, 3 and 4 ,in which it should be noted that a hollow support arm member 11 of rectangular cross section is provided for telescoping engagement with a rectangularly shaped shank 12. This shank 12 preferably has a cross sectional size just smaller than the cross sec tional area of the opening within the hollow support member 11. Accordingly the shank 12 may be moved reciprocally with respect to the support member 11. This reciprocal nature of the cooperative parts represents a first adjustment feature of the present invention. Since a plurality of openings are provided through the shank 12' and through the side walls of the hollow support member 11 these openings 13 and 14 respectively of the support members 11 and shank 12 may be placed in registration and a pin 16 may be inserted through the aligned openings to hold the shank 12 and support member 11 in fixed relative positions to effectively lengthen or shorten the length of this main attachment support member.

A pivotally mounted clamp 17 is adapted to rotate about pivot 18 and is secured to the outer end of the hollow support member 11. This clamp 17 is provided at one end with a hook shaped portion 19 adapted to engage the under edge 21 of the cap plate 22 usually found on bulldozer blades 23, moldboards or the like. The opposite end of the clamp 17 is provided with a pad 24 against which the end 26 of a clamping bolt 27 may be turned. For purposes of adjustment the bolt 27 is thread" edly received in a bracket member 28 extending outwardly from the support member 11.

The shank 12 is either attached directly to the ditching blade 31 as by Welding or the like as shown in Fig. 2 or it is attached to an intermediate support blade 32 as shown in Fig. 4. In the structure shown in Fig. 2, the ditching blade 31 should be of the size and shape necessary to cut the type of ditch desired. In the form shown in Figs. 3 and 4 the support blade 32 provides means to which a ditching blade attachment 33 is secured by means of bolts, cap screws or other fastening means 34. With this type of arrangement, various sizes and shapes may be used for the cutting blades 33 to cut ditches for different purposes and requirements. On either type of cutting blade a cutting bar 36 of wear-resistant material may be used on the outer edges of the cutting blade in order to reduce wear of the blade itself. In Fig. 6 the blade attachment 33 is shown with a forwardly curved shape. This particular shape has been found advantageous when cutting irrigation ditches since the dirt is more efiiciently removed from the ditch and less motive power is required. Other blade shapes and contours likewise aiford particular advantages.

As shown in Fig. 3 the back side of the cutting blade 31 or the support blade 32 is provided with one or more upwardly open V-shaped members 37 adapted to engage the cutting edge 38 of the dozer blade 23. Where more than one member 37 is provided, greater adjustment is possible so that the ditching attachment may be used on blades from an even greater size range.

With this arrangement, it will be apparent that when it is desired to position the ditching attachment on a dozer blade the cutting edge 38 of the blade is first engaged with one of the members 37 and the effective length of the support elements of the attachment is adjusted by re-positioning the openings 13, 14 and pin 16. When these major adjustments have been made and when the hook end 19 of the clamp 17 is engaged with the upper plate 22 on the dozer blade 23, the adjusting bolt 27 is then turned in the bracket 28 so that the end 26 of the bolt 27 will come into engagement with the pad 24 thereby cut a ditch or trench in the earth over which the bulldozer is moved.

Besides providing an additional adjustment for the length of the ditching attachment, the members 37 may also be used to efiectively adjust the depth of the ditch being cut. This is true since when the cutting edge 38 of the dozer blade 23 is secured in the lowermost of the members 37, the cutting blade 33 will extend a lesser distance down past the cutting edge 38 of the dozer blade 23. If a deeper ditch is desired, the cutting edge of the blade 38 will correspondingly be engaged in the uppermost member 37.

From the foregoing description and drawings it will be apparent that the present invention is adaptable to various modifications and changes. All of such modifications and changes as come within the scope of the hereunto appended claims are deemed to be a part of this invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A ditching attachment for earth moving equipment having a moldboard provided with a cap plate, comprising upper and lower telescoping support members, means for holding said members in selective telescoping positions providing rough adjustable positioning with respect to a moldboard on which they are mounted, a clamp member pivotally secured at the end of said upper support member with a portion arranged to bridge the cap plate and engage an under surface thereof, a bracket member extending outwardly from said upper support member, means cooperating with said bracket for engagement with said clamp member as a fine clamping adjustment to secure said support member on said moldboard, a plurality of notched members mounted on said lower support member at different elevations for selective engagement with the lower edge of said moldboard, and a ditch-cutting blade removably secured on a supporting surface of the lower supporting member and projecting below said lower edge of the moldboard for cutting a ditch during movement of the moldboard on a soil surface.

2. An attachment as defined in claim 1, in which the ditch-cutting blade is of substantially trapezoidal shape.

3. An attachment as defined in claim 1, in which the ditch-cutting blade is of curved contour and substantially trapezoidal shape.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,533,198 Mann Apr. 14, 1925 1,869,916 Schmid Aug. 2, 1932 2,297,677 Forte Oct. 6, 1942 2,485,407 Peterson Oct. 18, 1949 2,497,351 Fletcher Feb. 14, 1950 2,536,308 Pierce Jan. 2, 1951 2,590,352 Sanner et a1 Mar. 25, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 949,513 France Feb. 21, 1949 

